Around the World in EightE-Days are upon us at last! The collective excitement is mounting on the Mines campus and why would it not be? Whether a participant in the fun competitions, a club volunteering their services, or merely a casual attendee, the Days of Engineering promise fun and entertainment, a time for Mines to be “a ‘real’ school for one weekend” as Jorden Daubenspeck, the MAC E-Days chair said. The festival, established in 1934 as an earnest showcase of engineering skills, has “over time transitioned into what it is now, which is more of a weekend off where kids can have fun,” says Daubenspeck.
Modern E-Days is packed to the teeth with activities designed to let us engineers let loose, all of which are scattered around campus and the greater Golden area. To make navigating the upcoming events easier, MAC has debuted the Colorado School of Mines app by Guidebook, containing the entire E-Days itinerary. The app will update as new events are added, and will continue announcing campus events in the future.
Although the official start of E-Days is when the ore cart reaches the capital, some events are getting a head start, taking place on Wednesday, Mar. 30. Alpha Phi is getting the party going with their sixth annual philanthropy event on the IM fields to raise money for the Alpha Phi Foundation. Games, food, and music will be provided. If you are a poker shark or have a love for the art of bluffing, there is a poker tournament being held to determine who will play at the finals table on Casino Night and try for the fantastic prizes.
The Ballroom Dance Club is holding a blues-tango fusion dance called “A Night In Argentina”, from 7 to 11 p.m. in Friedhoff Hall. Dress is casual, from pajamas to as fancy as desired. A beginner’s lesson, from 7 to 8 p.m., will be taught by a professional instructor from the Denver area. The price of the event is free to Mines students ($5 for non-students) and promises to be outstanding!
Thursday, Mar. 31, offers a great line-up entertainment wise with comedian Eugene Mirman, Casino Night, and the Mr. Big Digger competition. Eugene Mirman, who has appeared on Comedy Central and The Colbert Report and voices Gene Belcher on Bob’s Burgers, offers his observational satire to the Mines community at 6:30 p.m., with doors to Bunker Auditorium opening at 6 p.m. The 41-year-old covers everyday life and American culture with a healthy dose of self-deprecation thrown in.
Casino Night begins where Eugene Mirman leaves off at 8:30 p.m. in Friedhoff Hall and offers poker, prizes, refreshments, blackjack, craps, and many more games. While Casino Night plays on the floor, Mr. Big Digger, a men’s beauty pageant hosted by Sigma Kappa, will take the stage at 8:45. They will crown the year’s Mr. Big Digger around 10:30 p.m. after traditional events such as evening wear, swimsuits, and talent. Casino Night will close down at 12 a.m., ending nearly four hours of games and letting loose.
Friday, Apr. 1, is E-Days’ official start with the Ore Cart Pull, buses loading on the IM fields at 7:30 a.m., to make the 82nd annual 7.5 mile trek down Colfax to the Capital where, if you listen closely, the governor will proclaim that E-Days has begun! Free burritos and t-shirts will be provided to the first 800 students, so show up early! At 12:30 p.m., in honor of ROTC’s hundredth anniversary, a celebration will be held on the IM fields involving helicopters, simulators, and more. Next from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., the IEEE chapter on campus is hosting a Tesla coil demonstration in Bunker and as soon as that wraps up, field day begins!
Field day runs from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. on the IM fields, and teams will be competing in all sorts of events, including gold panning, hot wing eating, and other exotic events from around the world following this E-Days theme for awesome prizes and bragging rights. There will also be $3 beer wristbands for those over 21. The trebuchet contest to bring down the castle will take place in Q lot, sponsored by Tau Beta Pi, from 2:30 to 4 p.m.
Later on in the evening, with doors opening at 6 and going from 7 to 11 p.m., an outdoor concert ($15 before hand and $20 at the door) will kick off with the talents of student DJs. Then the drumming population of the Mines Band, jokingly labeled the “E-Days Drum Party” and consisting of five students, Connor Sweeney, Alex Daily, Andrea Trompak, Griffin Metz, and Seth Lisle, will put on a sort of Blue Man Group show complete with paint and improvised drum solos.
The E-Days Drum Party will be playing pieces written by their very own Connor Sweeney as they put on an interactive show, which promises to make everyone messy. Closing out the night, a professional DJ troupe, The Throwback Time Machine, will put on the “best dance party ever” according to their promotional video. The “time traveling dance party” will play hits from the last half century in a multimedia interactive performance involving screens, lights, and of course rad music with audience members switching up the tracks.
Not to be outdone, Saturday, Apr. 2 offers the 22nd Annual Car Show put on by the Society of Automotive Engineers and the Racing Club. The car show goes from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and is located in the Ford lot by 6th Avenue. Tau Beta Pi will be hosting the cardboard boat race during this time as well, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. down by Clear Creek.
At noon, in the Clear Creek History Park right across from the Golden Public Library, Mines Little Theater will perform three or four 20-minute plays all written, learned, and rehearsed within the last 24 hours.
Saturday, from 12 to 3 p.m. is the Carnival on the IM fields. The obstacle course and human bowling are making a return this year to the festival as well as other games from around the world. 15-20 clubs will either have game booths or offer food as you wander from spectacle to spectacle.
That night, from 7 to 10 p.m. American Authors will take the stage at the IM field. American Authors is an indie alternative pop rock group whose hits, such as “Best Day of My Life” and “Luck,” have been featured in movies and on local radio stations like Area 93.3. They formed in 2007, have performed in Colorado many times, and filmed their music video “Pride” in Denver and the foothills. At 9:30 p.m., Mines will put on its famous firework show, a crowd favorite, to end the three-day festival in a booming fashion.
The next morning, Sunday, Apr. 3, fondly referred to as RecoverE-Days by some Mines Students, Pi Phi is putting on a pancake ‘phiest’ from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the ballrooms at the Student Center. This is a fundraising event and the Pi Phis are selling tickets in the Student Center lobby.
By the end of the festival over 25 clubs, MAC, several service fraternities, and the many students who volunteer will have put in hundreds of hours to make Around the World in EightE-Days a booming success. There are many amazing and promising events coming up that you will not want to miss.
Photo courtesy Mines Activity Council
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